Dear B—,

Unhappy as I am that so close a friend is gone, I cannot scold you for leaving. You’ve done what I think is right, a word that still carries full weight with you and me. I know how much you love Jerusalem. You’ve told me what a good job awaits you at the university, and that you’ve shipped over a microwave oven for your new apartment, something your wife never enjoyed here. I also know that your sons will soon be serving in the army, how you will writhe in the toils of the Israeli bureauracy, what a burden of problems you assume as an immigrant. I take you at your word when you say that you have left Canada for Israel only because you want to, but a hero may well be one whose desires happen to coincide with the national imperative.